Chapter 48: After the Crushing Defeat

  Kwok Kwok-yung sat beside the high desk and glanced at the big clock in the casino, it was already one o'clock, but the people around the Baccarat table were still quiet, he knew that this game had reached a crucial moment.

  The Greek in seat 1 was still at a disadvantage, he lost the first game, then lost the second game, and the third time he didn't accept.

  Carmel Dreyer in seat 2 abstained

  Mrs. Denvir of seat No. 3 also did not dare to respond.

  Mr. and Mrs. Du looked at each other. "Follow up," Mrs. Du shouted, soon, Mrs. Du lost to the eight points of the Zhuang family.

  "The banker won $200,000, and the next game will be for $400,000," said the accountant.

  "Follow up." Guo Guoyong said, taking out a stack of chips.

  He carefully observed Lefevre's every move again and found that his opponent had only taken a cursory glance at the two cards in his hand.

  "Didn't get a supplement," Guo Guoyong gritted his teeth, his tile was barely qualified as a five, the situation was very dangerous. Liefu took a J and a four, he patted the disc, drew a three, and then revealed his hand.

  "The banker is seven points," said the accountant. "You are five points." He added as he turned over Guo's card.

  "The next game stakes eighty thousand dollars."

  "Follow up." Guo Guoyong replied without hesitation.

  This time, Lefevre got a natural nine points and easily defeated him.

  Kwok lost $1.2 million in just two rounds and now he only has $1.6 million left, barely enough to bet for the next round.

  Guo Guoyong suddenly felt his palms sweating profusely, just like the snow melting rapidly under the scorching sun, and his stake was quickly depleted.

  Lefevre tapped the table lightly with his right hand, with a victor's complacency.

  Guo Guoyong found that the guy was sizing him up, with a sarcastic look in his eyes, "Do you want me to thoroughly defeat you?" The eyes seemed to be asking.

  The accountant had just announced the bet, and Guo Guoyong calmly replied, "Follow." He pulled out some chips from his right pocket and a stack of cash from his left pocket, pushing the money and chips to the front of the table.

  This gesture didn't mean it was going to be his last gamble, he felt his mouth suddenly become as dry as wallpaper, he raised his head and saw Venus and Felix-Light standing where Liver's bodyguards were supposed to stand, he had no idea how long they'd been there.

  Lyle looked a bit anxious, but Venus gazed at him with an encouraging smile.

  He heard a faint noise from the railing behind him, turned his head to look, and saw that the short bodyguard's black beard under two rows of bad teeth was grinding up and down against him absent-mindedly.

  "The betting continues," said the accountant, scooping up Guo's two cards and sliding them onto the green felt in front of him.

  The green tablecloth is no longer very smooth, the thick tablecloth has a fluffy texture, creating a kind of frictional effect on objects moving on it, its color is as fresh and tender as the new grass growing on a grave.

  Guo Guoyong took a glance at the cards, and the light emitted by the originally seemingly pleasant wide satin lampshade seemed to swallow up the colors and numbers on his hand, forcing him to take another careful look.

  The cards were simply terrible: a red plum K and a black plum A, the black plum A seemed to be staring at him with a sideways glance like a black spider.

  "Add one more card." He spoke with a still very calm tone.

  Lefebvre revealed his two hole cards, a Q and the five of spades. He looked at Bond, drew a card from the metal dish, the table was quiet as could be, he glanced at it, then tossed it away quickly.

  The accountant carefully scooped it up with a shovel and placed it in front of Guo Guoyong. It was a good card, the five of hearts, but for Guo Guoyong, this made him hesitant to advance or retreat.

  At this point he has six points and Livermore has five, but Livermore will certainly draw another card, and if it is under four points, then Livermore wins.

  Kwok Kwok-yung was eagerly awaiting a card greater than four points from Lefevre, only to see Lefevre lightly tap the metal plate and slide out a card. Kwok Kwok-yung stared at the card, his worst fears had come true.

  The accountant flipped over the card, and it was that deadly four points. The dealer's hand became nine points, and Lefevre won a complete victory. Guo Guoyong was defeated again, losing everything.

  The defeated Guo Guoyong sat stupidly in his seat, not making a sound. He opened the wide black cigarette case, pulled out a cigarette, violently removed the lighter's small cover, lit the cigarette and put the lighter back on the table.

  He took a deep drag on his cigarette, blowing out smoke from between his teeth with a faint "hissing" sound.

  What to do now? It's better to go back to the restaurant and sleep, avoiding Jin Qiang, Lai Te and Wei Na's sympathetic eyes. Then call the headquarters to report, take a plane tomorrow to return home, take a taxi to the headquarters office building, climb the stairs, walk along the corridor to Director Yao Shui Guang's office, facing Director Yao Shui Guang's cold face and that forced-out sympathy, saying something like "better luck next time".

  He glanced around at the crowd of onlookers surrounding the table, but people were not paying attention to him, instead they were staring at the large stacks of cash and chips on the betting table, watching the accountant count the money, neatly stacking the chips in front of the banker's family, seeing if anyone dared to challenge the banker's good luck.

  He didn't see Wright's figure, he thought that Wright was probably unwilling to see his own defeated appearance, but Venus had no reaction and still threw him an encouraging smile. She might not understand the gambling business, so she didn't understand the severity of the situation at all, nor did she understand the pain of being defeated.

  The waiter hastily walked through the railing, towards Guo Guoyong, he stopped beside Guo Guoyong, bent down, and placed a suitcase on the table next to him. The waiter leaned over and whispered a few words to him, then bowed and left.

  He could hardly believe his eyes, but it was true, the suitcase was stuffed with a thick stack of banknotes.

  Kuo Kuo-yung suppressed his excitement and looked at Venus, only to see Felix-Lite standing beside her again with a smile on his face. He immediately understood and smiled in appreciation, lifting his hand from the table and shaking it lightly to express gratitude for the timely assistance.

  Then he calmed down and shook off the feeling of complete failure from a few minutes ago.

  At this time, Guo Guoyong was like a different person from just a few minutes ago. He had regained his confidence and made up his mind to take revenge for the arrow shot.

  The accountant had finished calculating the betting money, and he exchanged all the cash that Guo Guoyong lost into chips, neatly stacked in the center of the table, totaling $32 million.

  Kwok thought that Lefleur might want to win another big pot, a few hundred thousand dollars more, enough to cover his urgent needs and leave the table.

  By tomorrow morning, he will fill in the financial gap and put himself in a safe position.

  Kwok's estimate was not wrong, Lefevre showed no signs of leaving the table. Now he had to make Lefevre believe that Kwok's stake was almost depleted and would never accept a challenge of $32 million. He couldn't let him know what was in this briefcase.

  If he knew then what he knows now, he might have pulled back his stake and started again from the beginning with a $1,000 bet.

  His analysis was correct, Lefevre still needed eight hundred thousand dollars, he nodded to the accountant.

  "The bet is three hundred and twenty million dollars."

  The accountant shouted out this sentence, and a silence enveloped the card table.

  "The bet is three hundred and twenty million dollars."

  The croupier shouted loudly and proudly, in order to attract the attention of gamblers at other tables.

  Moreover, this is also the best advertisement. The more gamblers gamble, the higher the casino's reputation will be.

  In the history of this city Bakala, this bet is unprecedented.

  Just then, Guo Guoyong leaned forward slightly. "Follow him," he said calmly.

  A buzz of excitement filled the casino as high-stakes bets were placed, and people flocked in.

  $32 million! For most gamblers in the casino, this amount of money is more than their lifetime earnings.

  Many people's family property is at most this amount, in other words, it is a considerable wealth.

  A casino director asked the team leader, who apologetically turned to Guo Guoyong.

  "I'm terribly sorry, sir. Is this a bet of such high stakes?" This sentence implies that he must put up cash equivalent to the bet.

  Of course, they knew he was a very rich man, but after all, it was $32 million! There have been cases where gamblers who didn't even have a cent to their name would gamble and lose, then happily go to jail rather than pay up.

  "I'm very sorry, sir." The headwaiter added conscientiously.

  Kuo Kuo-yung violently threw the banknotes from his suitcase onto the table.

  The accountant was busy counting the banknotes. At this time, Guo Guoyong found that Lefevre exchanged a glance with the short bodyguard standing behind him.

  Guo Guoyong immediately felt a huge pressure on his spine, which pressed down on the buttocks sitting in the chair.

  At the same time, a thick voice whispered urgently in his right ear: "This is a gun, sir, a silent pistol. It can break your spine without making any noise. You look like you're about to faint, and I'll be able to retreat safely. Now, before I count to ten, withdraw your bet. If you dare shout, I'll fire."

  He sounded very confident, he believed that people who spoke like this were men of their word, and these guys had already shown they would stop at nothing, the thick wooden club was proof of that.

  Kuo Kuo-yung was familiar with this gun, which had many soft rubber baffles inside the barrel that could absorb all sounds, but bullets could penetrate these rubber baffles. This type of gun was invented and used for assassinations during World War II.

  "Ah," said the voice.

  Kuo Kuo-yung turned his head and saw that the bodyguard was standing close to him, with a smile on his face under his thick beard, as if wishing Bond good luck. His face did not show any abnormality in the noise and crowd.

  Those two rows of discolored teeth came together, spitting out a "two" from smiling lips.

  Kwok Kwok-yung looked straight ahead, seeing Lefevre glaring at him. He was waiting for Kwok to beckon the accountant over or for Kwok to suddenly slump forward in his chair, a look of agony spreading across his face with a loud shriek.

  "Three." At the sound of this, Guo Guoyong glanced at Venus and Felix-Light, who were chatting and laughing, completely ignoring him. Idiots. Where did Jin Qiang go? Where are his top-notch action agents?

  "Four." More spectators swarmed in. These chattering fools, didn't anyone see what was happening? The headwaiter, the cashier, and the waiters?

  "Five." The accountant was arranging the stack of banknotes, and the leader smiled as he bowed to Guo Guoyong. Once the gold count was good, the leader would solemnly declare: "Gambling begins," then, regardless of whether it had reached ten or not, the bodyguards would open fire.

  "Six." At this point, Bond knew he had to save himself. He quietly moved his hands to the edge of the table, grasped it, and leaned forward as much as possible, slowly moving his buttocks backward, feeling the hard sight pressing against his coccyx.

  "Seven." The foreman turned to Leffert, raising an eyebrow, waiting for the nod from the boss that he was ready.

  Suddenly, Guo Guoyong exerted all his strength to turn his body backwards. His force made the chair back fall down quickly, and the horizontal bar of the chair hit the walking stick, before the bodyguard could even pull the trigger, the walking stick had already been knocked to the ground.